Steve Jobs just unveiled Apple's next-gen iPhone. Not called the iPhone HD or the iPhone 4G, it's simply called iPhone 4. It sports the same designs we've seen plastered on the web thus far, and is 24% thinner than the iPhone 3GS, checking in at just 9.3 mm. Jobs calls it the thinnest smartphone on the planet.

Jobs notes:

This is one of the most beautiful designs you’ve ever seen. This is beyond a doubt one of the most precise and beautiful things we’ve ever made. Glass and steel… its closest kin is like an old Leica camera. And it’s really thin.

Jobs reveals that it comes with a front-facing camera, microSIM slot, camera + LED flash, and a second microphone for noise cancelation. Jobs also points out that the iPhone 4 uses the surrounding aluminum band as part of the antenna.

And as expected, the iPhone 4 will come with an extremely high resolution 960x640 display, with a pixel density of 326 ppi. Jobs also highlights that the iPhone 4 will come with an 800:1 contrast ratio, 4x higher than the 3GS. And corroborating earlier rumors, the next-gen iPhone will sport the same IPS technology currently found in the iPad.

Apple's next-gen iPhone also comes equipped with Apple's speedy A4 chip and a gyroscope, which when coupled with the accelerometer, provides 6-axis motion sensing.

The iPhone 4 camera checks in at 5 megapixels and comes with a backside illuminated sensor to help with low light photography along with 5x digital zoom.

But wait, there's more!

Apple's next-gen iPhone can record HD video at 720p at 30 fps. Not too shabby. And with all that great video footage to work with, Apple also introduced an iMovie app for the iPhone. Check out the timeline at the bottom.. just like the old style iMovie for the Mac. Included in the app are transitions, titles, and even the Ken Burns effect. Toss in the ability to overlay music from iTunes, and that's an incredibly potent mobile video editing setup. Nice!

The app won't come standard, but will sell for $4.99 on iTunes.

But what about the front facing video camera and video chat? Well, Jobs used his patented "one more thing" line to demo video conferencing on the iPhone 4, a feature which Apple calls FaceTime. Naturally, the feature only works from one iPhone 4 device to another. Surprisingly, though, it will only work over wi-fi. I suppose, though, that this will prevent unsuspecting AT&T users from gobbling up their bandwidth allotment in one fell swoop.

As expected, the iPhone 4 will come in two colors, both black and white. It comes in two capacities - $199 for the 16GB model and $299 for the 32GB model. It goes on sale on June 24th, with pre-orders opening up on June 15th. Meanwhile, the iPhone 3G is now a relic of the past. In its place, the iPhone 3GS scoots on down to the $99 pricepoint previously occupied by Apple's 2nd gen iPhone.

The iPhone 4 will initially be available in 5 countries - US, France, Germany, UK, and Japan - but will subsequently ship to 18 more countries in July. In August, Apple roll out its latest iPhone to 24 more countries and then 44 more countries in September. All told, the iPhone 4 will be available in 88 countries by September. Jobs says that this is Apple's fastest rollout ever.

Developing...

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Yoni Heisler is a technology writer and Mac nerd who's been using Apple products for well over 21 years. He actively covers a wide variety of Apple topics, from legal news and rumors to current events and even Apple related comedy and history.